So, did the title of this post grab your attention? Technically it was true. For about five hours. For me and several hundred other passengers on the Holland America Zaandam.

In her Fun Foto Challenge this week, Cee poses the question, What Delights Visually? And who wouldn’t be delighted at the sight of a shimmering desert island surrounded by the intense blue of the Caribbean Sea?

Half Moon Cay (formerly Little San Salvador) is a tiny desert island in the Bahamas, owned by the Holland America Cruise line. The majority of the island is protected as a wildlife reserve.

The vast majority of Half Moon Cay is a nature reserve

The portion that can be visited is reserved more-or-less exclusively for Holland America ships. So when we stopped there back in April, we really were on a private desert island.

Since Rich, sue and I are definitely not lie around on the beach for hours sorts, we headed off to explore as much of the island as was allowed.

Half Moon Cay gets its current name from the beautiful 1¼-mile-long, pristine sandy beach at the west end of the island. Naturally, we began by walking its full length. And since most of my fellow passengers didn’t get any further than the sun loungers set up on the beach within a few hundred feet of the jetty, it wasn’t long before it really did feel like this was our own private desert island.

Away from the Madding Crowds – the northern end of Half Moon Beach

Panorama of Half Moon Beach from the less-visited end

The Zaandam across the bay

Hardly another person in sight

Next we headed inland on the network of nature trails, to view the stunning lagoon at the island’s heart. Along the way we found all seven of the geocaches hidden on the islands by previous visitors.

What passes for a road on Half Moon Cay

One of the locals…

… And another…

… And yet another

Bone Fish Lagoon at the centre of the island is cut off from the sea except for a narrow channel to the southeast

But ultimately, even we couldn’t complete resist the calling of the beach. And while we didn’t spend any time lying around on the loungers or sand, we did save some time at the end of our visit to splash around in the surf. Bliss.

No, I certainly wouldn’t be able to resist it, the water looks really clear and the shape of that half-moon beach is so unusual. The blue of that water is absolutely amazing. I enjoyed meeting the locals too – you did well to get the photo of the bird!